Time for greater Sydney regions to retune

If residents in the greater Sydney region want to keep watching free-to-air digital channels, including SBS and ABC, they will have to retune.

From Tuesday, television channels in regions including Macarthur, Hawkesbury, Picton, Bowral and Mittagong will change frequency.

The change frees up broadcasting spectrum for new services such as mobile broadband.

Viewers in greater Sydney, Macarthur and Hawkesbury areas need to retune their digital TV equipment after 9am (AEDT) on Tuesday if they are missing their usual channels.

Viewers in Picton, Bowral and Mittagong need to retune after 3.30pm on Tuesday if they are missing any channels.

Retuning can be done using the TV remote.

For most systems, viewers should press the "menu" button on the remote, look for settings such as "channels" or "auto-tuning", then follow the prompts to retune.

A video and three-step guide to retuning is available on the website www.digitalready.gov.au/retune or by phoning 1800 201 013.

Last month Melbourne viewers were the first to retune in an eight-month national strategy.